Zed

Zed bundles tree-sitter natively and has a clean LSP extension story. The httui-lang Zed extension wires both up.

Install

Open Zed.
Cmd+Shift+X → Extensions panel.
Search “httui”.
Install httui-lang.

The extension auto-installs the tree-sitter parser + downloads the httui-lsp binary on first use.

Config

Zed reads .zed/settings.json per project (your vault) and ~/.config/zed/settings.json globally.

{
  "lsp": {
    "httui-lsp": {
      "binary": {
        "path": "httui-lsp",
        "arguments": []
      },
      "settings": {
        "httui": {
          "env": "staging"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "languages": {
    "httui": {
      "tab_size": 2,
      "format_on_save": "off",
      "formatter": "language_server"
    }
  }
}

File detection

The extension registers:

*.httui → language httui
*.md → markdown (httui injects into fenced code blocks)

For the markdown injection to work, Zed needs the tree-sitter markdown grammar (built-in) + httui’s injection queries (ship with the extension). No extra config.

Features

Feature	How to use
Syntax highlight	Automatic on file open
Hover	Mouse over `{{ref}}` (Zed default `K` in vim mode)
Go to definition	`F12` / `Cmd+Click`
Find references	`Shift+F12`
Rename	`F2`
Code actions	`Cmd+.`
Format document	`Cmd+Shift+I`
Workspace symbols	`Cmd+T`

Active environment

Set per-vault in .zed/settings.json:

{
  "lsp": {
    "httui-lsp": {
      "settings": { "httui": { "env": "staging" } }
    }
  }
}

Or globally if you mostly work on one env. To switch on the fly:

Cmd+Shift+P → “httui: Set active environment”.

Run code lens

If the httui desktop app is running on the same vault, Zed shows a “Run” lens above each block. Click it → the LSP sends httui/blockRun to the desktop, which executes and returns the result inline (rendered in a small panel below the block via Zed’s inline UI).

Without the desktop running, the lens shows “Run in TUI →” — clicking opens a terminal split with httui-tui run <file>.

Theming

httui-lang ships with token mappings that respect Zed themes:

httui node	Zed token (default)
`(verb)`	`keyword`
`(alias_ref ident)`	`function`
`(env_ref ident)`	`constant`
`(field) @assertion`	`variable.special`
`(literal) @assertion`	`string`
`(reference)` (whole)	`embedded`

Custom themes pick these up automatically. To override, in settings.json:

{
  "experimental.theme_overrides": {
    "syntax": {
      "function": { "color": "#84B5FF" },
      "constant": { "color": "#FFCC66" }
    }
  }
}

Snippets

Zed reads .zed/snippets/httui.json per-project:

{
  "HTTP block": {
    "prefix": "http",
    "body": [
      "http alias=$1",
      "${2:GET} ${3:https://example.com/path}",
      "${4:Accept: application/json}",
      "$0"
    ]
  },
  "HTTP with expect": {
    "prefix": "httpexpect",
    "body": [
      "http alias=$1",
      "${2:GET} ${3:https://example.com/path}",
      "",
      "# expect:",
      "#   status == 200",
      "$0"
    ]
  },
  "DB block": {
    "prefix": "db",
    "body": [
      "db-${1:local}",
      "SELECT $0"
    ]
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Extension didn’t install LSP binary

The extension downloads httui-lsp from GitHub Releases on first use. If offline / blocked:

cargo install httui-lsp

Then set the path explicitly:

{ "lsp": { "httui-lsp": { "binary": { "path": "/Users/you/.cargo/bin/httui-lsp" } } } }

Markdown injection not working

Check Zed’s tree-sitter playground:

Cmd+Shift+P → “editor: open tree-sitter playground”.

Open a .md runbook with httui fences. The tree should show the http / db-* regions parsed by httui. If not, reinstall the extension.

LSP doesn’t pick up env changes

Reload the LSP:

Cmd+Shift+P → “editor: restart language server”.

LSP capabilities — what the server provides
Tree-sitter grammar — node types
Helix setup — similar story

Zed